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We grow roselle in one of the gardens where I work. We plant them in containers and place them outside once it is frost-free. Ours started blooming in early August and we are still harvesting the calyxes in October, even though the nighttime temperatures drop to the low 40's. They are looking raggedy but still producing somewhat. We are in Zone 7.
We grow roselle in one of the gardens where I work. We plant them in containers and place them outside once it is frost-free. Ours started blooming in early August and we are still harvesting the calyxes in October, even though the nighttime temperatures drop to the low 40's. They are looking raggedy but still producing somewhat. We are in Zone 7.
Our coldest night was around 35-36F and daytime temperatures have been in the 50s on many occasions. The Roselle is the plant that seems to be the most cold sensitive out of our frost tender plants. I think I'll just harvest everything that's left on Friday since I don't expect it to do much more. It hasn't flowered in over a week now. The okra are looking pretty rough too but still limping along... looks I may get a couple flowers from it today. Sweet potatoes look like they're just about done too, I'll be harvesting them soon.
Peppers, tomatoes, squash, tomatillos and eggplants still look in good condition.
You keep them in containers even when brought outside? I started mine in 1/2-2/3 gal containers indoors but transplanted them in June.
You keep them in containers even when brought outside? I started mine in 1/2-2/3 gal containers indoors but transplanted them in June.
Yes. The Roselle are in plastic pots. At our main garden center we bring tender semi-tropicals into heated greenhouses to overwinter. I don't have any of that at home, so I put plants into fabric grow bags. I can shift them around outside from sunny spot to sunny spot and extend the growing season. When it grows too cold, I bring them indoors into my small house, put them on drainage trays under grow lights, and keep them alive that way. Many of them live for a few months, but I am able to keep around 20% alive until frost-free weeks in the spring.
I think 60-75F is about right for the typical high temperatures for that date range, although at the start of that range it might be more like 65-85F and in the later part it might be more like 50-70F.
At Oakville TWN the average high for that Sept 10-Oct 20 period for 2007-present was 67F, which is right in the middle of the 60-75F range.
I'll agree that my range for low temps was too optimistic and only really true for 2021 though. 50-65F lows is more like September weather. Sept 10-30 would be more like 50-60F, and Oct 1-20 would be more like 40-50F lows on average.
I think with other varieties of Roselle that are photoperiod dependent, this wouldn't have worked, since those would only have begun flowering in mid-late September, which is when the weather turned cool enough to cause my plants to begin experiencing cold stress. It does seem like you want 50F+ nights and 70F+ days with 60F+ soil temperatures, rather than merely a lack of frosts. That means my plants were basically done by late September, rather than a month later when we'd typically get our first frost. However, since this variety started producing well before the fall equinox, it ended up working out well.
I think in the later part it's more like 50-60F for high, as 70F would be well above the norm in late-October.
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